Huang hit the streets of Persian Square in Los Angeles, Calif. for "Fresh Off The Boat," a web series on VICE dedicated to exploring the ethnic enclaves of different cities. The show's tagline: "Watch Eddie Huang eat food and do cool sh*t." Huang's description of the show from this episode: "We go to different ethnic neighborhoods and we make babies." Edgy!

After stopping into a rug store to meet up with his guide (entrepreneur Nima Nabavi of Digital Gravel), the pair hits the Attari sandwich shop, the neighborhood's first Persian business. Huang bites into the sheep brain sandwich and just isn't feeling the "freak food." "It's never like, amazing," laments Huang. "It's never eventful. It's all hype!"

The episode just goes downhill from there. At a hookah bar, Huang recounts his day in Persian square (rug shopping, brain sandwiches and saffron ice cream), and a Persian-American woman laughs, "those are three things I've never done in my life."

At the end of the day, Huang is just kind of meh about the whole experience. "A collection of businesses is not necessarily a community," says Huang. "You wish that this culture would plant their flag a little deeper in LA."

Shamshiri is likely already packed with LA's loyal Persian-Americans before 6pm. Consider its authenticity: There's something called tahnig on its menu, which refers to the layer of crisp rice (some would call it burnt; all would call it incredible) at the bottom of the rice pot; a massive slab of it is served to you on a plate and smothered with two stews of your choosing. After a course of tadig -- this is supposed to be a starter -- do not miss Shamshiri's all-too-tender lamb neck meat falling off the bone.
<em>Shamshiri Grill, 1712 Westwood Boulevard, at Massachusetts Avenue (310-474-1410 or <a href="http://shamshiri.com" target="_hplink">shamshiri.com</a>)</em>
Photo via <a href="http://shamshiri.com" target="_hplink">shamshiri.com</a>